EVE General Discussion

*just sold her soul for another 2 bil*

I honestly can't blame my fellow players for this. As passionate as some of us might get, and as slimy as I think they are - SOMER isn't killing anyone. Hell, even my own corp mates are blinking like crazy these days even while some of them agree with me they are bad and should be removed from the game. I "lol" at them, but in the end I understand their behavior - because it is a game and as bad as they think SOMER is, they don't want to have to take responsibility for removing them.

That is why the whole "well SOMER must be good because you guys throw isk at them" argument that Guard and others used was always complete and utter ^^^^. Because as players have stated or implied elsewhere, they rely on CCP to maintain the integrity of the game. Players should not have to worry that by spending isk on something they are giving de facto approval of that thing. They should not have to worry that by tossing isk at SOMERblink they are somehow casting a vote for them to receive Ishy Scorps and faction ships and trips to Iceland. People playing blinks is just that - people playing blinks.

To ask players to take responsibility for this, or to argue that because the players give SOMER isk they are worthy of a CCP endorsement - is complete nonsense and CCP should be ashamed to have even invoked that argument.

It is CCP's job to police SOMER, not ours. It is ridiculous, in fact utterly ridiculous, that we even had to get involved in this. Just think about it: had CCP never gone so far as to endorse an in game entity, this never would have come to light and SOMER would have been GTC/RMT'ing away, happy as a clam. But multiple players, spending only minutes of their time, were able to independently look at this and say "hey, this is RMT - why are you endorsing these guys?" Even if you don't agree it is RMT, the very fact it can be debated should have been enough to at least cause CCP to distance itself from SOMER, rather than "want to do things" with them.

It is shameful that we were told that they were adequately investigated by the community devs and that those same devs insisted that they were trustworthy and then used the fact that players spent isk on them as proof. What a complete and utter failure of responsibility on CCP's part. The fact is there was no investigation - not really..

It is a sign of the respect we have developed for some of the devs involved that the word "fire" has not come up more often in these discussions. And I personally would not call for any such thing - not just because I really do like the folks involved, but because I know from experience that these sorts of conflict of interest traps are easy to fall into. It is human nature to want to like people, to trust people, to work with others. Avoiding these things - conflicts of interest, influence peddling - requires that those in power actively pay attention to the behavior of, and their interactions with, those who might try and gain influence over t. It sucks that you have to constantly question the motives of others, but it is just the way things are.

Anyway, what a huge digression, but yes - as much as I'd love to see a boycott, it's not going to happen. But I also hope that CCP has finally learned that such continued participation should not be taken as a vote in the "for" column of SOMERblink. CCP needs to decide this based on the facts, not player opinion polls.

In order for somer to stop doing their thing is if players stop donateing to somer

this is how things die off, dont contribute to their cause, and they cant receive any contribution so eventually they die in a slow firey pit of sadness and despair, knowing they fu*ked up

For the record this would still be RMT. I know it is well meaning, but SOMER could do this too and still make lots of cash. In the end it is giving up isk to get cash dollars. The isk donation cannot be tied to the receipt of cash.

Honestly if they donated their RL profits to a charity - that would be the best sign that someone is not looking to monetize eve.

Conflict of interest traps may be easy to fall into, but the proper method to prevent this is not permissiveness and allowance. The company I work for has a zero tolerance policy when it comes to engaging in activities which result in a conflict of interest. As such, these cases are very rare. I would expect the same from any company that wishes to keep its integrity intact. It may seem harsh, but to do otherwise is to make it all the easier to succumb to tempation. If employees no that there are no firm penalties for conflicts of interest, then what deterrent is there against them? The alternative is to allow the corruption of individuals to taint the reputation of the business without discouragement, and no company can survive that indefinitely.

Personally, I don't like to see anyone lose theri jobs; but at the same time, I cannot condone allowing people to escape the consequences of their own actions. If CCP employees have in fact intentionally and independently engaged in activity that creates a conflict of interest, then they need to be subjected to disciplinary action, up to and potentially including dismissal.

Everyone should click "like" on this dude's post. Best post ever, and I am completely serious.

Can I use this on a t-shirt at fan fest? And seriously dude, if you ever need a corp, join mine. I'm a fan.


"CCP has to do something about this."

Most of the posters here are too stupid to recognice that most of the "community" doesn't care about the entire Somergate... I'm sure that most of the Eve players never heard about Somergate.

Or how do you explain this ?
http://imgur.com/2qua0Mz

This proves that forums are irrelevant and they don't represent the community.

AND The community has spoken. THEY want RMT, gambling an Somer Greed is good.

But I really hope that you are as upset about the RMT sheme of www.themittani.com They are paying their writers in ISK who's articles drives traffic to the site which means more money for the owner of the site.

And if you Kellerkinder are ever coming out of your basements you will recognice that the rules are ONLY set in stone and rigorosly apply for the normal citicien ;-)

So, stop whining you socialist

A normal Player doesn't drive the sales of GTC and isnt affected. I think that CCP is a good business partner because they are helping .Somer a last time.

Well now at least we know CCP's auditing skills are nothing to sneeze at. Who knew game developers can be so good at auditing and uncovering financial scams.

An apology is definitely needed for this major fuc*up. You can't endorse someone, back them fully, say with 100% certainty that they are above board and then close them down a month later for being one of the biggest known RMT operations of EVE. If you want any semblance of credibility left with the community, owning up to your mistake is definitely the first thing you should do (I think we all know who I am talking about).

Also the gifts that were given for "community work" should be returned at least, and handed out to the people that worked tirelessly into untangling the RMT operation of SOMER, that is real community work.

And now can we go on with rewarding the sites that actually are useful to the community in game. I hope this doesn't make CCP stop rewarding the people that actually deserve it.

The whole thing, just shameful.

There is rather a difference between telling someone that they have until the 7th to stop and telling people it is legal until the 7th. The community sites stopped the moment they were told to stop.

Either way around Somer is still a business (Their actions have really shown they are not a community site) and are in breach of the EULA very clearly. The community sites are not.